Mervyn Hoe: My Daily Happenings

On Sunday morning, I decided to bring Josh and Kate to Bishan Park! They are all so excited!! And we even brought something new this time - Bread! We intend to feed some of the fishes there. They cycled there and we went down to the large drain along Bishan Depot. The children were so happy to see large apple snails, and Josh even pointed to me the apple snail eggs! He remembered the name too. So proud of him. This small park connector is so amazing. It connects the main road to the Bishan Park, overseeing the Bishan Depot. They threw the bread crumbs one by one. Strangely, the small fishes didn't eat any of the bread. After awhile, Kate realized it and I discovered her eating the bread instead.  Think she didn't want to waste them! So funny right? Love her! Kate puts the bread crumbs into the drain, Each has their own bread plastic bags. Caught in the act! Feed herself while feeding the fishes! My Kate just makes me laugh out loud! Bisha...

Kate Now Kate is more expressive now. These nights, Eve and I are rotating to be the 'chosen' ones to make Kate sleep. One moment, Kate wants Eve. Another moment, she wants me. And I was lying on the lower bed, pretending to sleep. And Kate came down from the King size bed, and asked me, "Daddy come. Daddy come here." She wants me to make her sleep on the bed. So sweet right? Kate is really a lady with lots of energy and enthusiasm. And when she did wrong thing, she will just make it so humorous. I spotted that the wall beside the whiteboard area was drawn! I asked Josh who did it, and Josh said it's Kate.  I asked Kate who drew it, and this is her response. 'ME! ME!' Exclaimed Kate and she is so proud that she did it. She is honest but the sense of enthusiasm implanted in her response make both Eve and I burst out laughing. And of course I asked her can? She said, "YES!", but I asked her again, and she said No. It's really so full of j...

I'm really honored to know that this movie is awarded at Cannes. My wife told me about it, and she asked me whether do I know the content of it. I said, "I have no idea about it." It's a story about a maid working for a typical Singaporean family with a child and two working parents. And somehow the relationship between the son and the maid became from bad to somewhat a mother-son relationship. And there are relationship strains in the family and so on. There was a scene whereby the mother told the maid that, "I am his Mother. Not you." "My Ilo Ilo" This scenario rings a bell to me as I was taken care by my maid from Primary One to Primary Four. And it was this time whereby I remembered that I grew close to my Sri Lankan maid. I loved her cooking and to tell you honestly, I was closer to her than to my parents then. It was okay to me, but I'm not sure how my parents would think about it. I just remembered my father as an ATM, and my mother...

Well, Josh is now coming to 4 in 4 month's time, and Kate is coming to 2 in 3 month's time. And I was thinking that we can have a '2 Kate 4 Josh' event. How does that sound? 'To Kate For Josh'? Recently, Josh has been quite attention seeking even though we have given him quite a bit of attention. Now, he loves to just take from Kate everything and anything she holds. And this is becoming quite a habit of his. And both Eve and I have patiently talked to him and reminded to say 'May I' to Kate. At times, he did. At times, he didn't. And Kate will actually hide the stuff behind her back and will run away. And Josh will follow her quickly, causing Kate to be fearful and she cries. It's certainly quite hard to keep reminding Josh about this and Kate, being herself, will at the end, pass to him, and Josh will then feel 'contented' to win. This is actually quite tough as Kate has her own rights, but Josh just didn't want her to have the ...

This song is really ridiculously funny. Rock-a-Bye Baby, in the tree top When the wind blows, the cradle will rock. When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall. And down will come baby, the cradle and all... "Bough" is a main branch of a tree... This lullaby has a good rhythm to make children to sleep. However, it really is a scary story actually, that the baby actually get injured by the fall? Or worse still, may be crushed by the cradle! I wonder how come we are taught this as a lullaby? My children didn't really know the implications of this song. However, when both Eve and I sang (because Josh requested for it), we just didn't want to carry on the last line... It's kinda wrong.  And yes, we will change to another song...

I'm really amazed as to what Parenting really involves and it's fun! Eve and I have been attending Parenting with Confidence course and it has enriched us dearly on the appropriate approaches to manage children's behavior, expectations and how to love them! I'll make it 3 parts! I'll share about the loving children. Buying toys for children are not loving them. Telling them 'I love you' is not enough. What we can do is to experiment what kind of love language our child is! There are 5 of them. I have been taught to give these to my spouse. It didn't occur to that our children also needs it too! 1. Acts of affirmation This is so good when we praise our children specifically to what they have done right. Try not to use 'good boy', 'nice job, Kate.' This is too generic. Once we have praised correctly and with details, it will make the child feel appreciated and love. They will boost their confidence too. 2. Giving gifts This is...